New U.N. Ebola Trust Fund Falls Far Short of Goal

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations trust fund for Ebola barely has $100,000 in cash, a fraction of the nearly $1 billion that the world body says it needs to help tackle the outbreak, United Nations officials said Thursday.

The trust fund has received pledges of about $20 million from various governments, but only $100,000 in actual cash deposits — and that only from one country, ​ Colombia.

Donors have separately given money and noncash contributions to specific United Nations programs, worth about $3​76 million. But the trust fund itself, which the United Nations regards as a flexible cash resource that could be tapped as needed to support efforts to contain Ebola, remains woefully underfunded. ​

Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, had earlier told reporters that the trust fund, announced in mid-September, had received $20 million in cash. His aides later clarified that the $20 million amount referred to pledges, not cash.

The number of Ebola cases is expected to exceed 9,000 this week, with a total of 4,500 deaths, the World Health Organization said earlier in the day

“We need urgent global response,” Mr. Ban said.

The United Nations is separately rallying countries to contribute cash and in-kind contributions, from helicopters to protective gear, for the three most heavily affected countries in West Africa: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.